I Keep My Head Held High
by RebbieChan
Summary: Prison AU. After Clarke instigates a prison-wide riot, new Warden Lexa makes an offer to team up to try to fix the problems created by the previous people in charge.
1. Chapter 1

"With a record like yours, I'm surprised I haven't seen you in my office before." The brunette, if anything, sounded impressed. "I took a look at your file." Her green eyes fell down to the manila folder on her desk. She sifted through the pages and adjusted them. "Sentenced two months ago for aiding your father in illegally trading company secrets-"

"They treated their employees like slaves." Clarke Griffin wanted to make one thing clear. She was not a criminal before entering this place. Now, well, she wasn't so sure. At the very least if the Warden of the entire prison herself had chosen to grace her with her presence, she would make sure it wasn't wasted. "The money was going right to their communities!"

Warden Lexa Woods barely looked up from her papers before responding with and equal lack of interest. "Awful. But unfortunately legal. What you did was noble, but unfortunately _illegal_." She looked down at the file again. "Within your first week you attacked a guard-"

"Yes." Clarke admitted, leaning forward in her chair. " _Your_ guard. Who was harassing my bunkmate-!"

"Yes. Which whom was promptly _fired_." She continued, "Started a fight with a rival prison gang your third week."

"That was an accident and-" Clarke cut off, not wanting to talk about the details of what happened that particular day. That was something she hadn't spoken to anyone about, least of all would she tell her. The woman on the other side of the desk waited for her to continue for a moment longer before forgoing the notion.

"And the latest incident in which you incited a prison wide riot."

Clarke smiled meekly and relaxed back in her chair. "You can't prove I had anything to do with that."

"I can't." The Warden admitted. She slipped the pages back into their folder and folded her hands over the desk. Almost absently, she said "Do you know how many were injured in last night's little show?" Clarke stayed silent. "Twenty-three. Eight guards. Fifteen inmates. Not just a few bruises or scratches like you have. Injuries. Broken legs, arms, stab wounds."

She was trying to guilt her. She knew it was working. Clarke shifted in her seat. She centered herself, she would not let Lexa throw her off, and she would make her point loud and clear. "It's no wonder there was a riot. The conditions here are awful. Nothing works around here, sometimes its days we go without water in the showers. Meals have been cut down to _once_ a day. There's more corruption among the officers then the entire criminal record here among the inmates, and none of the girl here are getting the help they need to survive out there when they do eventually get released."

The Warden kept her gaze. To Clarke's surprised, her voice softened and for a second she seemed like an entirely different person. "I know."

"You _know_? Then why aren't you-?"

"It's not that simple, Clarke." Lexa clipped. She glanced away for a moment, swallowing hard and collecting herself. "I want the same thing as you. These people are my responsibility."

She looked sincere. Clarke relaxed a little. "Then why hasn't anything been done about it?"

"There has." The Warden reassured her. "We've been going through the staff here, trying to remove the bad eggs. As far as conditions here … We don't have the money. Our budget has been slashed every quarter by the higher ups. The prison is failing and if we can't prove to them that it's doing its job, it will be shut down before long. I'd like to provide proper classes and training but until we can give the higher ups something to show them, we'll never be able to afford it."

Clarke eased back carefully. Why was she telling her this? "You keep saying 'we'." It was more of a question than a statement. She eyed the woman suspiciously.

"The inmates look up to you." She explained. "I need someone with eyes on the inside. I need to know who of my staff is helping in bringing in the drugs or causing problems with the women. "I need someone the others will listen to who can keep things in order long enough for a positive review."

Clarke narrowed her eyes. "And what's in it for me?" She asked cautiously. She wasn't opposed of these things, she wanted them, but there were risks to what she was implying.

"Beyond the chance to have regularly running water and three meals a day?" She looked down at her file again, "Your bunkmate, Octavia Blake has been in juvenile detention centers more than she's been in school before she came here. How is she going to survive outside these walls? If things improve around here she can receive a proper education, job training. All of them can." Lexa paused and looked over at her again. "Even you. You were going to school to be a doctor, correct?"

Clarke didn't answer. _That_ was something else she wouldn't talk to her about. Or anyone. Maybe not even herself.

She looked her over again. Lexa didn't give much away with an impassive expression and hard words. Still, she seemed honest. There was no reason for her to lie and of course she'd want the prison to succeed – if it failed she would be out of a job.

"Alright," Clarke relented, "but only under the condition these programs will be put in place."

"You have my word." After a pause she spoke a little louder, "According to you counselor, you refuse to talk or attend sessions. Now, you will talk to me. Same times, my office."

Clarke sat and processed. So this was how they would communicate. She would make it appear as a punishment. Or a ruse to trick her into confessing her part in last night's riot.

The Warden looked up from her desk again. "We're done here." Her eyes flicked to the door." You are to leave now."

—

As soon as Clarke rounded the corner to A block, Octavia ran out to greet her.

"You're not in any trouble are you?" Octavia asked. She looked like she was ready to march into Warden Woods office and fight her. "They can't prove anything, right?"

Clarke put her hands up to calm her. "They can't." She assured her friend. She glanced around and lowered her voice. "Where's Raven and Gina?"

Octavia swallowed hard and glanced away. "Medical." The word was hard with worry and regret. "They got hurt bad last night."

Guilt crept up the back of her throat. This was _her_ fault. She smoothed out a few creases in her uniform to calm herself. It had been worth it. She had gotten what she wanted. "They still think it's me," Clarke started slowly. "The Warden wants to personally keep an eye on me."

"What do you mean?"

"Guess who's my new counselor? Mandatory. Twice a week." Clarke said bitterly. Octavia's face fell instantly. "She thinks I'll slip up or something." Clarke shrugged. "Clearly she doesn't know me that well."

"Clearly." Octavia echoed. She glanced passed Clarke's shoulder. "I got to go," She muttered before hurrying off to meet with Lincoln. Despite all the craziness that happened the night before, it appeared their fling still going strong. The guard was a good man and would be good for her, but Clarke couldn't help but think that maybe that was only true if they had met on the outside.

Octavia seemed to buy the ploy. Good, now all she had to do was expose Murphy and pray the Warden kept up her end of the deal.


	2. Chapter 2

John Murphy was terrible to all the inmates. Notable for harassment, a big figure in the drug trade, known provider of weapons, and overall a total douche. He had just enough charm to keep on the mask of a halfway decent guard and to keep him from losing his job. It was time to pull away that mask and win something for her girls.

The tricky part was, how could she prove all this to Lexa without getting the girls in trouble as well? The question plagued her mind and kept her distracted throughout the day.

"Hey boss." Zoe Monroe called to her, hurrying down the hall with a mop and pail. "Guards are looking for you." The nice thing about working the janitorial job was the relative freedom they had to roam the halls as long as they had a mop or a broom in hand. Luckily, half of her so called 'gang' held the same work detail as her. It certainly proved helpful in orchestrating the riot a few days before. Monroe still had a gash on her head from the incident but it didn't seem to bother her.

Clarke tensed. She searched Monroe's face for answers, "what the hell do they want?" For a moment she thought that _maybe_ they had found something on her, which would be bad. Very bad, like doubling her sentence and sending her to solitary bad. Then she remembered. It was Thursday. It was time for her meeting with Lexa. "Right." She muttered. Clarke handed Monroe the broom she held. "It's nothing to worry about. Thanks for letting me know."

Monroe nodded and continued on past her. It was a good thing she had a whole network of girls looking out for her. If Monroe hadn't reminded her, she would have forgotten and had to have had a CO after her for 'failure to comply' or something. The last thing she wanted was to get in trouble for something so stupid right after getting off scot-free for something so major. It was embarrassing.

She remembered how to Lexa's office and dipped into the stairwell to avoid the CO Monroe warned her about. Clarke needed to show the Warden that she was responsible, a good partner. Show up on time, earn some brownie points. If Lexa respected her, then she'd be that much more likely to follow through on her promises.

Before she turned down the hall to the Warden's office, Clarke looked over herself. Her hair was an impossible mess. She wore a sweat shirt over her uniform, but it probably only made her look sloppier than she already was. She tried smoothing out a few creases and wiping off a few spills and stains, but it didn't help much. Fuck it. What did it matter? What was she, trying to impress her? This wasn't a job interview, Lexa already knew she was in prison.

Clarke gave up on that brief endeavor and continued on. Lexa's office had a few large windows where she could see almost the entire room. The brunette was sitting at her desk, eyes locked on to her computer screen. She was wearing glasses today and her hair was up. This was probably a 'sloppy' day for her, but Lexa still looked almost regal. Clarke rapped a knuckle on the glass to get her attention and waved when the woman looked up.

Lexa looked indifferent, but smiled politely and waved her in. "You're late."

"I forgot what day it was," she admitted and moved over to stand by the armchair on the other side of her desk.

"How did you get here?" Lexa asked. Her tone was sharp, but she seemed more curious than anything else. "You were supposed to have someone escort you."

This area of the third floor was supposed to be accessed only by using keycards, but it was well known that a few of the stairwells led to unlocked doors. Well, well known among the inmates at least. It had been used during the riot to get ahold of things people could use as weapons. She could play the fool here, but it would only result in her getting in trouble. "The southwest stairs are always unlocked."

Lexa set her jaw and nodded. Grabbed a post-it, jotted it down and stuck it to the computer screen. Locks not working in a prison was kind of a big deal, but she was going to wait to address it until this meeting was over.

"I don't have anything for you yet. I'll go so you can get to that right away." Clarke turned to leave.

"Sit." Lexa's voice stopped her in her tracks. "Or stand, if you like. As I said before, you'll have your talks with me now."

"I don't really _do_ the counseling thing." Clarke turned back, but didn't make any motion to sit down or return towards the desk.

"Who said anything about counseling?"

Clarke curiously looked over Lexa. She was impossible to read. Clarke hesitated, but sat down. At the very least, she was interested. "Okay then, what do we talk about?"

Lexa gave a simple answer, "whatever you want."

Clarke frowned. "Sounds like counseling." She was a little frustrated with herself. She should have left already or simply not have said anything like she had with Anya, her previous counselor. There was something about Lexa that kept her feeling on edge rather than off it and she couldn't place what it was.

"Are you always so distrustful Clarke?"

"Are you always this nosy?" She shot back, not expecting an answer. She tapped her fingers on the armrest. If this 'talk' kept going like this she was going to leave for real.

"No," Lexa responded, "I usually keep more to myself."

Clarke shifted in her seat. Lexa's oddly honest answer threw her off. She wasn't entirely buying it. Of course she was trying the tactic of opening u a little first to encourage it in her. Still, her voice was soft very unlike the warden that put a stop to the riot a few nights before with simply her words and commanding tone.

So, who was the warden? Clarke had Anya pegged down as soon as she stepped into her office. It had been decked out in memorabilia of her favorite sports teams, but never spoke about them in front of the inmates or came across as excited about them. She had a framed and signed picture of a post-it note with IT's number on it showing both that she was awful at technology and actually had a sense of humor and comradery among her coworkers, something Clarke never saw in person as she was only shown the serious side of her. When it came to Lexa, there was next to no personal affects in her office, no one saw her outside of it and those who did were simply terrified of her, and she seemed weirdly young for this position.

So what did she know? Lexa was smart, driven, and kept to herself. She had two photographs framed on the mantle behind her. One showed Lexa in a CO's uniform standing next to Anya who, judging from the lazy arm around her shoulder and the clear annoyance on Lexa's face, might have been above her in ranking. The other showed her among a group of kids. The only other personal item was a framed diploma on the wall, the date recent.

"When did you get this job?" Clarke asked, "As warden?"

"I was promoted a little over two months ago," Lexa said, "Why do you ask?"

"I thought that if you're as committed as you say you are to fix this place, it wouldn't make sense that you were the one to run it into the ground. That and," She added, "I've heard the girls refer to you as 'the new warden'."

"'As committed as I say I am'" Lexa repeated.

"You're the one who said I'm distrusting."

—

Her session with the warden actually went well. Sort of. They more or less talked around things rather than about anything or especially about herself. This was what she would prefer of course to any actual talks. No one needed to know her business other than her.

Now that that was out of the way until next Tuesday, there was time to form a plan of action. She went from Lexa's office down to the cafeteria for dinner, their meeting cut shot at the aggressive growling from her stomach. Clarke was not used to this new meal plan.

She arrived early and took a seat at her usual table, enjoying the silence. After a while the table filled. Octavia helped Raven over, who now sported a wheelchair and a sour expression, followed shortly by Harper and Monroe. The only two missing were Gina who was still injured in medical and Maya who worked kitchens.

"The people in charge are watching things carefully since the other night," Clarke reported, "there's a chance we could get rid of you-know-who."

"I don't care what we do I'm in." Raven said, "He's the reason I'm in this chair. 'Accident' my ass," she mumbled. Octavia nodded in agreement.

"We'll have to be smart about it," Clarke warned, "watching carefully means they're watching us too. We'll meet tomorrow after shift change, the usual spot. Let's get everyone there."


	3. Chapter 3

The 'usual' spot was out back behind the dumpsters. Friday afternoons, no one looked back there. Clarke was still short a girl, Gina wouldn't be back until Monday, but they had enough heads together to come up with a plan that could work.

"What we need," Clarke started, looking from one girl to the next, "is to have him caught in the act. This means handling drugs or physically harassing an inmate, I don't know that an instant of verbal harassment is enough to get him fired."

Monroe and Harper exchanged glances. "We could try coaxing him into a fight," Harper offered. "Risky, but worth a shot. Besides," She nudged Monroe playfully, "we could take him."

Octavia nervously cracked her knuckles. "So how could he be caught with drugs without exposing one of, uh," She fumbled over her words, "somebody else also."

"Real subtle there, O." Raven murmured sarcastically.

"I swear, I'm not," She turned to Clarke, trying to emphasize that point to her, "I'm not anymore, it's just – I've been there. It's a hard place to be." She half smiled, trying to lighten the tone, "Unless we could trick one of Nia's girls?"

Clarke glanced over at Maya. "Anyone in the kitchen using?"

Maya shifted in discomfort. She had been nothing more than a peace activist gone too far before all this. Some of the harsher aspects of prison really didn't suit her. "um," she shrugged, "they don't talk about that during work. I don't know."

After a moment of pondering, Raven leaned forward in her chair. "What about sexual harassment?" She asked.

"Murphy's horrible but he's not a monster," Clarke said, "he wouldn't do that. And that would be more of a risk than any of these."

"That's not what I'm saying." Raven reiterated. "Isn't he hooking up with one of the kitchen girls?"

"Now _that_ is something they talk about." Maya jumped at the idea of being helpful to the group. "Emori. It's gotten her in hot water too because Nia's favorite, Ontari, likes him. She's been trying to bully the girl out of hanging around him so that she can be with him. She's stopped spending time with him but they're still at it. I think if we offer her protection from them, at this point she'd do anything."

The only thing surprising about this was that anybody, let alone two people in the prison, found Murphy desirable in any way. Nia's crew were ruthless. The poor girl probably had told Murphy what was happening, but there wasn't anything he could do about it whether he wanted to or not. Most of the guards seemed more afraid of Nia then their own Warden. Clarke knew the woman must have strings outside the prison if she had such a hold on everyone.

"I don't like this," Octavia's voice brought her out of her thoughts.

"Of course you don't," Raven muttered.

"Yea of course I don't!" Octavia snapped. "The new warden will crack down harder on the Guards – particularly when it comes to how they interact with us, I don't want Lincoln to end up getting in trouble over this!"

"You got a better plan?"

"No." Octavia admitted. "But these aren't going to work."

"No…" Clarke said reluctantly, "this would work."

"Clarke, you can't seriously be considering this," Octavia protested.

"He'll be sent to jail," Monroe added, but it was hard to tell if this was meant in support of Octavia or the plan.

"As he should be," Raven asserted.

"Not for this, this will be something that stays with him forever." Clarke knew enough that she wasn't speaking for Murphy here but for Lincoln. "Once you're on the sex offender list, you don't get off it."

"Maybe he _should_ be there," Raven was pushing it, even if she was making a fair point, "I mean, technically no one in here can give consent anyway."

"So what are you saying Raven?"

Clarke could see the look in Octavia's eyes, if Raven wasn't in wheelchair the girl might've hit her already. The blonde quickly stepped between them. "Octavia, I don't like this either, but this is the best option we have. Lexa's going to be looking closer at the staff regardless of what supposed crimes she catches. No matter what, you and Lincoln are going to need to be more careful."

"Think you can keep it in your pants for a while?" Okay, so Raven _was_ just trying to piss Octavia off.

"What crawled up your ass!"

Clarke placed a hand on her bunkmate's shoulder. " _Octavia,_ let it go. And Raven," She turned to the other girl, "You can't take your frustrations out on everybody else." Raven rolled her eyes but backed off. Clarke made a mental note to talk to her later to figure out what exactly _did_ crawl up her ass. As for now, it was time for business.

— _

After hours of planning how to actually protect Emori (with help from their friends in the guard _Thank you Lincoln!)_ a time and place was set. Clarke set off to Lexa's office for her bi weekly meeting, this time having to take the appropriate measures to get there.

"You have something for me." It was matter-of-fact. Lexa saw it in Clarke's face as she entered.

Clarke nodded. "Your CO John Murphy."

Lexa straightened her back with her breath and folded her hands across the desk. She was taking it in, suddenly what she had suspected was made real. Action would need to be taken. "I've heard rumors, never anything substantial."

"He does most of his business out of a supply closet on the first floor, by laundry. He's got a new shipment." A lie, within a lie, to uncover the truth. Hopefully Lexa wouldn't hold it over her too much once she found out. There was a chance this limited trust they had going could fizzle out over the ruse, but something told her that Lexa would understand. "There's talk in the kitchens that one of their girls will be meeting him there in a half hour or so."

"Shipment of what, exactly?" Lexa asked, trying to glean as much of the fake story as possible. "And this meeting will be a hand off?"

Clarke shrugged and replied with a truth. "Drugs, he sells just about everything so I don't know what it is this time." She continued with enough vagueness to make it believable. "I'm only assuming it's a handoff, this meeting is just something I've heard who's heard it from someone else."

Lexa nodded slightly. Her eyes searched elsewhere, lost in thought. "You don't mind my cutting this session short, Clarke?"

"I had a feeling it would be." Clarke answered. She swung her arms at her sides as she turned to leave. A short session for sure, she hadn't even bothered to sit down. She would be in for an extra-long session after this was over and Clarke wasn't sure if that was something she thought as a way of not letting herself be too happy about getting off early or if the session was something to look forward to.

It was a bit of both, she decided, simply because Lexa's reaction to thinking she was walking into a drug-bust and instead find something a little…different would be entertainment on its own.

— _

Lexa decided to deal with the matter personally. This was in part due to the last minute timeliness of Clarke's tip, and in part to ensure the situation was handled. The truth was that it couldn't be just on man causing problems in her prison, and she didn't know who she could trust.

On her way she spotted one of her COs Jasper Jordan. The young man was a lanky assemblage of willingness to please and a desire to be noticed, yet he avoided her eyes as she passed. He was likely to be the type of person easily influenced by others. Lexa nodded to him. "Come with me," she words were quick and commanding.

He perked up his head and turned to follow along with her. He could be a good officer, and being involved in catching one of his co-workers in a crime would likely scare him from being pressured into doing the same. "W-What do you need me for?" He asked, tentative but curious.

"I have reason to believe one of your fellow officers is conducting illegal trade with the inmates." She got straight to the point.

"Oh, uh, what-" Jasper's voice arced higher than usual as she stumbled over his words, "what makes you think that."

"There's been talk for a while," She answered with a truth and a lie, "one of the other officers reported seeing John Murphy bringing in a suspicious package earlier today." She wasn't going to give up her source so soon and certainly not to someone she didn't trust.

The young CO's shoulders relaxed a little. "Murphy…huh." He quickened his pace to keep up with her. "Well, wit, how do you know where to go."

"Last report was that he was seen heading this way with an inmate," Lexa answered. "I'm well aware of what goes on in my prison, Jordan."

"I don't question that," Jasper said hastily.

Lexa almost rolled her eyes. This kid was far too obvious. Too obvious, in fact, to bother worrying about any of his possible involvement. He likely knew things, was approached about getting involved, but hadn't yet taken that leap out of fear and now likely never would.

They drew close to the location Clarke specified. Lexa motioned for Jasper to be quiet and moved to the other side of the door. She nodded to him, signaling to open it. He stared at her, wide-eyed, for a moment before throwing the door open.

She recognized her CO right away, but it took a second to realize what was happening. Jasper let out a laugh like the kid in class who just saw his friend get called out by the teacher. "ohohoh shit."

Murphy was entangled with an inmate she recognized as one from the kitchens, Emori, his pasty white ass practically reflecting the light from the hallway. There was a great lack of clothes and a great sense of urgency.

"Mr. Murphy!" She shouted, more or less to shake her out of her stupor.

"Aw, fuck…" Murphy muttered and stepped back. At least he knew when he was screwed. Frankly, so was she. _This_ … this would be a lot more paperwork.


End file.
